Behavioral activation is a new therapy that has been shown to successfully treat depressed adults and adolescents. BA is a type of therapy that helps depressed people get involved in activities that they find to be enjoying and rewarding. The developers of this therapy believe that people are depressed because they are not experiencing rewarding and positive events in their lives very often. For example, when people become depressed, they usually become isolated from others. They also stop doing the things they used to enjoy, or they do them far less often. As a result, they have fewer experiences that make them feel a sense of accomplishment and happiness, and their depression becomes more severe. The worse the symptoms get, the less they engage in rewarding activities. The developers of BA have established a therapy program that helps the patient choose and participate in activities that are rewarding. The therapist acts as a coach, monitoring progress and giving feedback about these activities and the relationship between this activation and mood. This type of therapy is not just designed to get depressed people to do more; rather, time is spent choosing and evaluating specific activities that are particularly rewarding for the client and evaluating the outcome of these activities. Although BA is a novel intervention, early evidence shows that BA is effective with regard to alleviating symptoms of depression. In addition, the results of these studies show that it works in a relatively short amount of time (approximately four months).